Yesterday we were, once more, back in the Blackstairs: this time with the Galways - Naoise, Ashley, Dylan and Jude.

Three generations of Curtis.
A Curtis; a Curtis Nunn and a Moran Nunn.
You can work all that out for yourselves!

And, in repeat of our last visit with friends Dave and Sue, we set forth for 'the beeches' which have received honourable mention here previously - (A walk in the Blackstairs.........20.10.10 and Back in the Blackstairs.........13.02.11)

First glimpse..................

............getting closer and, although spring is now well advanced, the burst of vivid colour of their new leaves came as something of a surprise as, on both previous encounters, their naked branches had been silhouetted against winter skys.

And on this visit they were to reveal more secrets.....

First, I found that the third tree, the one that I said I thought looked to be in trouble, if not dead, was not a beech but a sycamore......

...........it still looks as though it is in bother but it is, nonetheless, struggling into leaf.

And then I spotted growth on the stubs of broken boughs on both the beeches, growth that did not look to me like beech growth. And, on inspection, I discovered that, indeed, they were not new beech suckers but opportunistic and parasitic rowan saplings feeding from the necrotic beech wood.

But anyway and as you can imagine, we picniced well before setting forth for home, and of course the traditional stop-off at The Spotted Dog in Inistiogue for restorative pints of Guinness.

And, yes, along the way back to the vehicles...............

................I rediscovered my emerging river.............

........................and the extraordinary dyke.

And we met Paddy Loony.

Paddy led the organised walk that first introduced Sue to the Blackstairs and he retains oracular knowledge of this territory but, while on this meeting we engaged and ruminated on many mountainy matters, incuding the appropriateness, or otherwise, of conifer plantations and wind farms, I fogot to quiz him on streams and dykes.

Next time...............